The reasonableness and certainty of the Christian religion by Robert Jenkin ...

CHAP. IX. Of the Creation of the World and the Preservation of it.

BY Creation in the Book of Genesis, is un∣derstood not only the Production of the World out of Nothing, but the Formation and Disposal of the several Parts of the Uni∣verse. But there has an Opinion of late years prevailed, very injurious to Religion, and re∣pugnant to Reason and the Judgment of for∣mer Ages; That God only created Matter and gave it Motion, to be performed under certain Laws, by which all the Phaenomena of Nature both in the Creation and Preservation of Things are brought about, without any

farther immediate Divine Power or Concourse, than what is just necessary to continue this Mat∣ter and Motion in Being; that is, God created Matter, and put it into Motion, and then Matter and Motion do all the rest in a settled Course, and by established Laws, without any need of the Divine Aid or Direction. This Notion indeed can never be reconciled to the Scriptures, but then it is as little befriended by Reason and Natural Religion. In proof of which, I shall consider: I. The Creation of the World, II. The Preservation of it; and shall shew, that neither of them could be per∣formed in this way.

I. As to the Creation, we may consider both the Time and the Manner of it. And by the Time of the Creation, we may understand either the Time, when the Creation of the World began, or the Time which was taken up in the Creation of it. But this latter sense will come under what is to be said of the Manner of the Creation.

1. The Time of the Creation of the World, as that signifies the Beginning of Time, or of the Worlds Duration, must be wholly Ar∣bitrary, and absolutely at God's Sovereign Pleasure and Disposal. For there could be no∣thing in eternal Duration to fix the Creation of the World more to one Time than another, or to determin why it should begin sooner or later. And since it is impossible that the world should be eternal, it is evident, that the Time of the

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Creation, whenever it was, can be no good Objection, because, tho' the World had been created never so long before, there must ne∣cessarily have been as much a Pretence for such an Objection. For there must have been some Period of Time, when the World had existed no longer than it has done now: and no beginning of the World can be supposed so long ago, but still it might with the same Reason be ask'd, why it was not created sooner?

2. In considering the Manner of the Worlds Creation, I shall prove, (1.) That there is no Reason to suppose the World to have been at the first made by Mechanical Laws, tho' it were preserv'd according to such Laws. (2.) That there are sufficient Reasons to be given for its Creation in that Manner, which we find related in the Book of Genesis.

(1.) There is no Reason to suppose the World to have been at first made by Mecha∣nichal Laws, tho' it were preserved according to such Laws (whereas I shall afterwards prove, that it is not preserved according to them.) There is no Reason that the World should be first framed according to the Laws of Motion which are established for its Preser∣vation and Government in its fixt and settled State. The Origin of the Universe was by the immediate hand of God, before the Appoint∣ment of the several Laws which afterwards were to take place; and we may as well en∣deavour

to reduce the working of Miracles to the standing Laws of Nature as the Creation of the World. For certainly of all Miracles the Creation of the World must be the great∣est, not only as it signifies the Production of Matter and Motion out of Nothing, but as it was the putting things into such Order, as to make them capable of the Laws of Motion ordain∣ed for them. It is not yet agreed, nor is it ever like to be, what these Laws of Motion are, which the Philosophers so much talk of, and there being such a mutual Connexion and Combination of Bodies, and such a Dependance of every Body upon so many others in every Motion, it is impossible to know how any two Bodies would act upon each other, if they were separate from all Bodies besides, or were out of that State which they now are in. It is reasonable therefore to imagine, that the several Parts of the World must be ranged and settled before these Laws could take place; and to reduce the Creation of the World to the Laws of Motion which now prevail in it, is to suppose a Creation antecedent to that by which the World was made. This is as if an Indian should attempt to give an Account of the making of a Watch by the several Motions, which he sees performed in it after it is made, and should imagine that the Materials moving in such a manner, at last arrived to the exact frame of a Watch.

(2.) There are sufficient Reasons to be

given for the Creation of the World in that manner, which we find related in the Book of Genesis. It is great Presumption in Men to be too curious and inquisitive about the Rea∣sons of God's Actions: for whatever he delivers of himself, we ought entirely to believe both the Thing it self and the manner and Cir∣cumstances of it. Where wast thou when I laid the Foundations of the Earth, declare, if thou hast Ʋnderstanding. Job. xxxviii. 4. But this must be said to the Glory of God, and to the Shame of all such as Censure and Cavil at his Word, that even by Men such Reasons may be given of his Actions, as all his Ad∣versaries shall not be able to gain-say.

God hath ordered all things in Measure, and Number, and Weight, Wisd. xi. 20. And as to those who enquire, why the World was created in six days rather than in one day, or in an in∣stant, or in a long compass of Years, as the Laws of Matter and Motion, they say, require: It might be sufficient to ask, why, if it was God's Will, the World might not be created in six Days, as well as in any other number of Days or space of Time? If the Creation had been in an Instant, or in a longer or shorter space of Time, the Question might with as much Reason have been put, why it was not created in six days? Shall Men presume to prescribe to God the Time and Manner of his Actions? Is not his own Pleasure a sufficient Reason of them? The Manner of the Crea∣tion

and of the Flood, which have of late been the Subject of so many Disputes, depends solely upon the Will and Pleasure of God, and therefore we can know only by Revelation, how they were effected, and it is in vain to pre∣tend that they must have come to pass in this or that Manner, unless it could be prov'd, that God could not bring them to pass any other way than that, which the Inventor of some Hypothesis thinks fit to propose. Most Actions may be performed very different ways; and if, for instance, we had only a general ac∣count of the Passage of the Israelites out of Aegypt into the Land of Canaan; that Pharaoh pursuing them, was drowned with his whole Army, that they travell'd in the Wilderness forty Years, and had a sufficient Provision of Food, and Cloathing, and Water for so great a Multitude, in so barren a place, and for so long a time: tho' never so many Conjectures should be made, how all this might be, and never so many Schemes were drawn of their Journeyings and Encampments; if it could be supposed possible, that one of all these might prove true, yet it would be utterly impossible to know which were it. But when we are on∣ly told, that God created the World in six days, and that such and such things were created on each of these Days, that he brought a De∣luge of VVaters upon the whole Earth for the Sins of Mankind; which continued for such a time upon the face of the Earth; some Men

will needs assign the particular Means and Manner, by which both the Creation and the Flood must necessarily have been brought to pass, as if the wisdom and power of God, and the nature of things could admit of no other way, but what they can explain. VVe may esteem the Learning, and admire the Sa∣gacity, and allow the good Intentions of these Authors; but when any one advanceth an Hy∣pothesis in contradiction to all others, and pro∣poses it, not as probable, but as the only true Explication of Scripture, and positively main∣tains, not only that things might be so, if God pleased, but that they were so, and could not be otherwise; this to me seems more unaccount∣able, than any thing I ever met with besides, in the very worst Hypothesis. We can know nothing of the way and manner how God has been pleased to do any thing but by his own Revelation. If each Frypothesis were possible, yet no man could be certain which were the right, or that any of them were so; because God might make use of some other Means than what Men can imagine. But when the several Hypotheses destroy one another, and every one pretends to set up his own in con∣tradiction to all the rest, and none can main∣tain its Ground any longer than till another has been brought to confute it, it were strange, if Men should satisfy themselves with such Uncertainties, rather than with the plain word of God.

According to any Mechanical Hypothesis, (tho' there were no Vacuum) so many Acci∣dents must continually intervene in a Chaos of Matter confusedly rolling and knocking one part of it against another, that it seems next to an Impossibility, that it should ever settle into any Order: at least, if Matter had been left to its own workings and jumblings accord∣ing to any Mechanical Laws of Motion, the world for ought any Man can prove, might not have been made to this Moment. So far is it from being possible to understand, how, upon Mechanical Principles, the world should have been made in six Years, rather than in six Days, consisting of four and twenty Hours. It is therefore the boldest Attempt that can be conceived for Men to pretend to assign the se∣veral steps and degrees in the process of this wonderful Operation, with as much ease and certainty, as if they had all the Materials by them in their Laboratory, and could perform it as readily as an ordinary course of Chymistry. Next to attempt the making of a world, what undertaking can be more daring than to pre∣tend to discover how it was made? To m••ke a World must undoubtedly be the work of God, and he alone can declare how he made it. But Reasons may be given for the Crea∣tion of the world in six Days; (1.) With Respect to Angels, (2.) With Respect to Men.

1. With Respect to the Angels. It is (a) St. Austin's Opinion, that the six Days of the Creation of the World in the Book of Genesis, are distinguished according to the Perception which the Angels had of the Creation; from whence was framed that Distinction of the (b) Schoolmen between Cognitio Matutina, and Cognitio Vespertina. And tho' what I am about to say, is not exactly agreeable to St. Austin's Notion, yet I hope his Authority will war∣rant my arguing from this Topick to such as may think it new and singular.

The Angels were the beginning of the Creation, and were created probably in the Morning of the first Day. For in the Book of Job, God says, that when the Foundations of the Earth were laid, the Morning Stars sang together, and all the Sons of God shouted for Joy. Job xxxviii. 7. from whence we learn that the An∣gels were created before this visible World, and glorified God for his creating it. Now the Angels, tho' blessed and glorious Spirits, yet are finite, and are unable to comprehend and fathom the wonderful works of God; there are things which the Angels desire to look into, 1 Pet. 1.12. and the more they know of God and his Works, the more they adore and praise Him. The whole Scene of the Creation seems to have been laid open in Order before them, according to the several Degrees and the various Natures of things, whereby they must have had a fuller View and a

clearer Understanding of the Divine Power and Wisdom, than they could have had, if the World had started forth in an Instant, and jump'd, as it were, into this beautiful Frame and Order. As he who sees the whole Me∣thod and Contrivance of any Curious piece of Art, values and admires the Artist more than one does, that beholds it in Gross. God was pleased therefore to display his Glory before the Angels, and by several steps and degrees, to excite their Praise, and Love, and A∣doration, which moved them to Songs and Shouts of Joy, and by this means his Glory and their own Happiness was advanced, much beyond what it would have been, if all things had been created and disposed into their Rank and Order at one Moment. They look'd into the first Principles and Seeds of Things, and every day presented them with a glorious Spe∣ctacle of New Wonders; the first Seven Days of the World, they kept a continual Triumph or Jubile; and thus their Voices were tuned and raised, as I may say, to those Praises, which were to be their Employment and their Happiness to all Eternity; the more they saw, the more they knew, and the more they knew of the Works of God, the more they for ever loved and adored Him.

This affords us a Reason, why so much more time was spent in the forming of the Earth, and the Creatures belonging to it, than in the formation of the Heavenly Bodies. Be∣cause

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the Heavens are of a Uniform and Si∣milar Nature, and a vast Vacuum is now sup∣posed to be in them, and therefore the Na∣ture of them might, without any successive Production, be displayed at once to the An∣gels; but the Earth being of a Compound Nature and containing Creatures of very dif∣ferent kinds, it required more time to give a distinct perception of the several Parts and Species of it. And the Planets being of the like Nature with the Earth, since the Earth, the Seat of Man's Habitation was framed by such leisurely degrees, as might give a suita∣ble Idea of it; the other Planets might be framed at once, there being nothing more in them than what was observeable in the For∣mation of the Earth, or they might be fra∣med together with the Earth by the same Mea∣sures and Degrees.

But according to the Mechanical way the Angels would have only the Prospect of a vast Chaos, rolling and working for many thousands of years, perhaps before any thing considerable could have been framed out of it: And those tedious delays must yet accor∣ding to this Notion have been carried on by such certain Methods, that there could have been little wonderful in it to an Angel, when the Mechanical Philosophers themselves think they can point out the several Steps and Moti∣ons, by which all was done.

The making of Man was the last and fi∣nishing

Work of the Creation, when the World was prepared for the Reception of him, and he was made with much solemnity. Let us make Man in our Image after our Like∣ness. Gen. i. 26. and the Man and the Wo∣man were made apart. For Adam was Cre∣ated with all the Perfections suitable for him, both as a Man, and as the first Man, out of whom Eve was to be formed: As Man he was to have all the Parts and Faculties which Men have now, but in greater Perfection; as the first Man, he was besides to have a Rib or (c) Part, out of which the Woman was to be made. Which being the Principal, and, as it were, the seminal Matter, no men∣tion is made of any other; but as Animals and Plants are properly said to come from the Seed, tho' they are not made of that on∣ly; so Eve was properly made of Adam's Rib, tho' other Matter besides might go to her Composition. This way of Formation was to betoken that Love and Duty which ought to be between Husband and Wife. And as the Creation and Happiness of Man provoked the Envy of Evil Angels, so no doubt it occasioned the Joy and Praise of the Good ones.

(2.) By this successive and Gradual Produ∣ction and Disposition of things in six days at the Creation; the Glory of God is likewise more manifested to Men than it would have been, if all had been done at once, or by

slow and tedious Methods. This gives us a more clear and distinct comprehensive Notion of the Works of God than we could other∣wise have had. It is acknowledged, that Moses has given such an Account of the Cre∣ation, as is more intelligible and better ada∣pted to the Capacities of the generality of Men, than that which any one would now obtrude upon us as a true Account of it: But whatever Reasons can be assigned why the Creation should be described as it is in the Book of Genesis; the same Reasons will prove that it was fitting it should be so per∣formed: If it be more suitable to the Capaci∣ties and Apprehensions of Men, that the Cre∣ation of the World should be delivered to us as finished in six days rather than in a less or a longer time; it was fit that it should have been really finished in this space of time, and should be indeed so performed as might make the History the more useful to us. For in respect of God it was alike to Create all things in an instant, or to do it successively in a shorter or a longer time; and in respect of Mankind no reason can be assigned why the History of the Creation should be delivered so as to represent it to Men as performed in this manner; but the same Reason will hold why it should have been in the same manner performed.

God Blessed the Seventh day and Sanctified it, because that in it he had rested from all his

Work which God Created and Made, Gen. ii. 3. and so, Exod. xx. 10, 11. the Observation of the Sabbath, or of one day in Seven to the Honour of God, is established upon the Worlds being Created in six days, and therefore, if it be reasonable to keep one day in Seven Ho∣ly in Remembrance of the Creation, it must be reasonable that the Creation of the World should have been performed in six days, since the Obligation to observe a Seventh day in re∣membrance of the Creation, implies that God rested on the Seventh day after he had Crea∣ted the World in Six, or in the same space of time, which is contained in six days. God saw it fitting that a day should be set apart to Commemorate the Creation, and to Praise him for all his wonderful Works, and that this day should return at such a distance of time; and he observed such Order in the Creation, that every day between these Peri∣ods of time might bring some particular work of it to Remembrance, and every Seventh day might conclude in the Commemoration of the whole Creation.

Our Saviour answers the Pharisees, when they proposed the Question to him about Di∣vorces, by putting them in Mind of the Or∣der, which God used in the Creation, Have ye not read that he which made them at the be∣ginning made them Male and Female? And said, for this cause shall a Man leave Father and Mo∣ther, and shall cleave to his Wife: and they

twain shall be one Flesh? Matth. xix. 4, 5. And St. Paul in like manner, to shew that the Woman ought not to usurp Authority o∣ver the Man, proves it by this Argument: For Adam was first formed, then Eve. 1 Tim. ii. 13. and in another place and upon another occasion he observes, that the Man is not of the Woman, but the Woman of the Man. 1 Cor. xi. 8. And long before the Prophet Malachi had Argued from the same Topick, Malach. ii. 15. And Hebr. iv. 4. it is noted, that God did rest the Seventh day from all his Works, from whence the Apostle concludes, that he that is entred into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own Works, as God did from his, Vers. 10. Now as these and whatever other Arguments are to be found in the Scriptures of the like Na∣ture, do evidently suppose the Creation of the World in the same manner, as it is related in the Book of Genesis; so they explain to us the Reasons why it was thus Created. For all these Arguments had been lost, and there could have been no ground for them, if the World had been otherwise created. As cer∣tainly therefore, as this Arguing from the man∣ner of the Creation is good: So certain it is, both that the World was so Created, and that there was great Reason for it.

But whatever some Philisophers may think now, there is nothing which would have been more disagreeable to the Notions of the Ge∣nerality of the wisest Men in all Ages, than

that the World should be made upon Mecha∣nical Principles. He spake, and it was done, he commanded, and it stood fact, Psal. xxxiii. 9. He Commanded and they were Created. Psal. Cxlviii. 5. This expresses not only the Truth of the History but the general sense of Man∣kind, who have ever had this Notion of God, that to command and to do is the same thing with him. And therefore the Objection till of late has run the other way, that God did rather Create the World, in an instant than in six days. It was little suspected formerly that divers Years or many Ages were spent in the Creation. It was in the Description of the Creation of the World that Longinus ob∣served the sublime Style of Moses, and if the Relation of it be admirable, the Creation it self in such a manner as is there related, must be much more admirable. For it is proper for it to be thus described, for no other Reason, but be∣cause it was proper for it in this manner to be done. But what would Longinus have said, if the Creation had been related to have been perform∣ed not by any command which had its immediate effect, but by the tedious Process of Mechanical Causes? What Grandeur, what evidence of the Divine Power and Majesty is there in this more than in any Chymical Operation, if the Mechanical Hypothesis were true?

It were strange Presumption to demand of Almighty God a Reason of all his Actions, and not to believe him upon his Word, that he has done any thing, but when and how

some Men conceit it ought to have been done. But what I have now said may at least serve to silence the Cavils of such Men.

2. The Preservation of the World is not performed according to Mechanical Laws or Principles. The Mechanical Hypothesis suppo∣ses that Bodies act upon Bodies, or Actives upon Passives in a certain course, and accord∣ing to such Laws as that, being left to them∣selves, they necessarily produce their Effects without any immediate Interposition of a Di∣vine Power. But this Notion is grounded wholly upon mistakes.

1. It supposes that there was at first a cer∣tain quantity of Motion infused or impressed upon Matter which still continues passing from one Body to another according to cer∣tain Methods or Rules prescribed. But this Supposition that there is always the same Quantity of Motion in the World is wholly precarious, or rather notoriously false, and the best Philosophers have been able to give no Account how Motion can be Communicated without an immediate Impulse or Concourse of the Divine Power.

2. By the Mechanical Hypothesis it is sup∣posed as a thing certain, that there is a Ple∣num, which at least is very uncertain, or rather it has been demonstrated by Mr. New∣ton, that there is a Vacuum not only intersper∣sed, but of a Prodigious and almost incredi∣ble extent at the distance of the Earths Simi∣diameter

from us. And by his Principles, Gra∣vitation must proceed from an immediate and constant Impression or Impulse of God. For it proceeds from no Action of one Body up∣on another, but is a Quality belonging to all Matter alike, and to every particle of Matter, however separate and distant from all others. The Projectile Motion, and that Attractive Force, by which the Planets are carried in their Orbits cannot be communicated or per∣formed according to any Mechanical Laws, whereby they are determined from a Rectilinear to an Orbicular Motion. For Bodies can act upon Bodies only by Contract, and therefore cannot Communicate their Motion, or any way determin, or affect the Motion of each other in a Vacuum, so vast as it must be near the Circumference of the several Orbits, so that the old occult Qualities and Substantial Terms were not more repugnant to the Mecha∣nical Hypothesis than these Principles are. The being of a Vacuum must suppose an imme∣diate Divine Power necessary to keep the System of the World in that order in which we see it continue. For otherwise by this Principle of Gravitations, being inhe∣rent in every Part of Matter, all Bodies would press towards the Center, and in a Va∣cuum there can be nothing to hinder their tendency towards it, till they come crowding the upon another; so that all the Order of things would soon be reduced to one confused

Heap or Moss, unless some immaterial Power interposed to hinder it.

It is evident then that the Mechanical Hy∣pothesis is quite destroyed by these Principles. For by these here is no Connexion of Cau∣ses and Effects according to any Laws of mere Matter and Motion; but all must be done by the immediate Power of God, Gra∣vitation and the Projectile Motion must be im∣pressed and suspended without any dependance upon surrounding Bodies; they must produce their Effects thro' prodigious void Spaces, where Bodies have no Communication of Motion from one to another. And all being performed by the immediate directing and assi∣sting Hand of God, a Man may as well pre∣tend to solve a Miracle Mechanically, as to give any Account of the Phaenomena of Na∣ture by Mechanical Laws according to these Principles.

3. The Abetters of the Mechanical Hypo∣thesis argue, that God acts in the most Gene∣ral and Uniform ways, that it is more becom∣ing his Wisdom to let Nature have its course, and that constantly to interpose, would be a disparagement to the Order and Contrivance in his Establishment of the Laws of Motion; that Matter and Motion are with that Wis∣dom set to work, that they can perform all without any more than preserving and sustain∣ing them in their Being and Operations; and that he is the best Artist, who can contrive

an Engine that shall need the least medling with, after it is made. But it ought to be con∣sidered, what the Nature of the Engine is, and what the ends and uses of it are, and if the Nature of it be such, that it cannot an∣swer the ends for which it was framed with∣out sometimes an assisting Hand, it would be no point of Wisdom in the Artificer, for the Credit of his Contrivance, to lose the most useful Ends design'd by it. As if among o∣ther uses this curious Engine were design'd to reward the Good and punish bad Men; to re∣move the punishment upon Amendment, and to renew it upon a Relapse: Since Brute Matter is uncapable of varying its Motion, and suiting it self to the several States and Changes of Free Agents; he must assist it unless he will lose the Chief end for which it is to serve. It is no defect in the Skill and Wisdom of the Almighty, that Matter and Motion have not Free will as Men have: But it would be a great defect in his Wis∣dom, not to make them the Instruments of Rewards and Punishment, because it is impossible for them of themselves to apply and suit themselves to the several States and Conditions of Free Agents.

The Nature of Matter and Motion is such, that they cannot serve all the Designs of their Creator without his Interposition, and there∣fore he constantly doth interpose according to a certain Tenour which he has prescribed to

himself; but this Tenour and Course is alter∣ed upon some important Occasions. In a natural and ordinary way he Cures Diseases, sends Rain or dry Weather, or else our Prayers to him would be insignificant upon such Occasi∣ons, and there would be no room left for his inflicting these Temporal Rewards and Pu∣nishments. He feeds the Hungry that cry to him, and he punishes the Wicked when he sees it fitting, by Famine, or Drought, or Pestilence, in the ordinary Methods of his Providence. But sometimes he alters these ordinary Methods, and acts above them or contrary to them, to signalize his Mercy or his Judgments: And thus Christ fed so many thousands in the Wilderness, and God Rained down Fire from Heaven upon Sodom and Go∣morrah by a particular and miraculous Dis∣pensation. Miracles are the particular Ap∣pointment of God in peculiar Cases and Oc∣casions, and the course of Nature is his ge∣neral and perpetual Appointment at all other times. God at no time leaves Nature to it self, but ever concurs with it, by assisting its Power and directing its course, he ordinarily in∣terposes in the constant course of Things ac∣cording to established Laws: But Miracles are his wonderful Work, when he interposes in an extraordinary manner, and alters that Me∣thod which he has prescribed to himself to observe in the common course of Nature. God doth not in an extraordinary manner in∣terpose

to prevent the irregular or unusual productions of Nature as in mostrous Births, &c. For how irregular soever these may seem, yet they are according to this standing Rule, that they shall be suffered to happen in cer∣tain Cases; and they rarely happening, serve to illustrate the Divine Wisdom in contriving Nature, so that in its general Course all its Operations should be regular and uniform; and from hence it appears that God doth not extraordinarily interpose to alter the Course of Nature, but for great Ends, Superiour to those which concern only the material World.

We may well suppose that God has at much regard to his Wisdom in his Govern∣ment of the Moral, as of the Material Part of the Creation; and yet he has added supple∣mental Laws to enforce the Moral Laws, and these additional Laws have been changed, as the Circumstances and Condition of Men re∣quired. Why then should the Laws of the Material World be so much more sacred, as that he should never intermeddle with them? He assists Moral Agents with the continual supplies of his Grace, and natural Agents with that help which is needful for them to per∣form his will. God may hasten and assist natural causes upon our Prayers, he may quick∣en the Motions and enforce the Powers of Nature, and remove secret Impediments, to help and make way for natural Operations, or he may slacken or retard natural Causes.

To say that God has so ordered the course of Nature as upon the fore-sight of Mens Pray∣ers to him, to grant them what they Pray for, and upon the fore-sight that they will not Pray, to withhold from them what they want by Mechanical Laws, is by no means satisfa∣ctory. For there is neither Proof nor possibi∣lity of Proof of it, it is merely a Supposition without any ground of Reason, but only this, that the Mechanical Notion cannot otherwise be maintained. But I will suppose with much more Reason, that two Men are Sick of the same Disease, that the Circumstances of the Disease are all the same, and, all outward Ac∣cidents likewise the same, till the Prayers of one of them make a Difference. For one of these Men upon his Prayers Recovers, the o∣ther neglecting to Pray, Dies. The natural Causes are supposed to be the same, except∣ing only so far as Prayer moves God. in his Mercy to make a Difference in their Case. To say that this never happened, is wholly precari∣ous, and hard to believe, since it probably may often happen in Epidemical Distempers; but it is much harder to believe that it can never happen; and if this either have or can happen, it is not upon fore-sight of their Pray∣ers, by the contrivance of Mechanical Laws in their first Establishment, but by an immediate Act, that God assists Men upon their Prayers to him. The strange Providential Deliverances of some certain Persons are observable in every

Age, and all Histories mention them. But how shall particular Men, amidst the greatest Dan∣gers, be preserved in the common Calamities of the Sword, and Famine, and Pestilence, but by a particular interposing Providence? Were these Men who have been so remarkably preserv'd all of one Constitution; or do Soldiers Slay Mechanically, tho' the Plague and Famine should be supposed to do so? I wonder it should be thought less agreeable to Philosophy, for God to interpose in directing natural Cau∣ses than in over-ruling Moral Agents, where the Designs of the Providence equally require it. The same Providence delivers both from the snare of the Hunter and from the noisome Pestilence. A thousand shall fall besides thee, and ten thou∣sand at thy Right Hand, but it shall not come nigh thee, Psal. xci. 3.7.

4. The Mechanical Philosophy proceeds up∣on a wrong Notion of God, supposing it un∣worthy of him to be concerned immediately. in every thing which is done. We may as well imagine it below him to know every thing, as to suppose it unworthy of him to concern himself in it: And yet he cannot but know every thing being Omniscient, and he can∣not but concur in every Operation of natural Causes, being Omnipresent, and wherever he is, he Acts. It is the Perfection of the Eye to see all that is within View, how small and inconsiderable soever it be; nay, the smaller the Object discerned is, the more perfect it

proves the sight to be: And if a Man could do every little thing at the same time that he does things of Importance, and with no trou∣ble to himself, it would be surely more per∣fection in him than to do these only. But a Variety of business is troublesome to Men, and small Affairs hinder and call them off from those of moment. Tho' with God it is quite otherwise; he acts with the same Ease wherewith he sees or knows or exists; he knows all things with one Omniscient Thought, and he does all things by one omnipotent Act, nothing can be in the least difficult to him, and nothing can be done without him, In Him we live and move and have our Being. Act. xvii. 28. And what the Scripture delivers re∣lating to the Creation and Preservation of the World, may in strictness of Philosophy be taken in a proper and litteral Sense. But do Men indeed consider what it is to make and preserve a World, when they pretend to shew by what steps God proceeds in it, and to ex∣plain the whole Process, as it were, of the Ope∣ration? Is there not infinite Wisdom requi∣red to know what infinite Power only can ef∣fect?

And after all, it is very probable both from Scripture and from Reason, that the invisible and immaterial part of the Creation has a greater Share in the guidance and conduct of the visible and material part of it, than is commonly supposed. For since the wonder∣ful

improvement of experimental Philosophy, and the various Hypotheses which have been raised upon it; Men have been apt to look upon natural Philosophy not only as a distinct Science, but as wholly separate from the rest, as if there were no subordination and depen∣dance between the visible and invisible World; whereas it is reasonable to believe that there is a continued Connexion and Chain of Cau∣ses in the Operations and Productions of things, and a constant influence and intercourse between the Superior and Inferior Created Be∣ings. It is certain that God useth the Mi∣nistry of Angels in the Government of the World, but how far, and to what particular purposes, and upon what occasions, no Man is able to determine: However, those who have been the most curious inquirers into Nature, daily meet with so many new and strange Di∣scoveries, that they have been forced to com∣plain, that the contrivers of Hypotheses have been too hasty in framing them without a sufficient number of Experiments; from whence we may conclude, that if Men will first con∣tent themselves to make Experiments in or∣der to give a true History of the Phaenomena of Nature before they attempt to solve them upon their own Principles, the World will have an end before any. compleat System can be contrived to give any tolerable Account of them.

I will conclude this Chapter in the Words

with which M. Huygens concludes his Conje∣ctures concerning the Planetary Worlds. For my part, says he, I shall be very well contented, and shall count I have done a great matter, if I can but come to any knowledge of the Nature of things as they now are, never troubling my Head about their Beginning, or how they were made, knowing That to be out of the reach of Humane Knowledge, or even Conjecture.

Notes

• (a)

  Aug. super. Gen a•• Literan. lib. 4. c. 22. &c. De ••ivit. Dei lib. 11. c. 7.
• (b)

  Tho. Aquin. Sum. Part 1. Qu. 58 Art. 6.
• (c)

  Dicunt etiam Ʋ∣nam ex eo∣stis ejus i∣dem esse quod u∣nam ex partibus e∣jus, vel u∣nam par∣tem ejus quam ex∣plicatio∣nem con∣firmant ex eo quod in Targum vocabu∣lum Tze∣lah costa redditur per Setar ut Tzelah costa Ta∣bernaculi redditur in Tar∣gum per Setar latus Taberna∣culi; ita hic dicunt Mitzalotar idem esse quod Missi∣trohi. Mai∣mon. More Nevoch. Part 2. c. 30.